Prospects and Problems of Tourism Development in Surkhet Valley: 'A Case Study of Kakrebihar, Surkhet'

Abstract

Tourism is the world's fastest growing and largest industry. It is recognized that tourism is the basic and very desirable activities deserving the praise and encouragement of almost all countries in the world. Nepal is one of the most beautiful countries in the world with lofty snowcapped mountains and scenic, peaceful settings. It has varieties of tourism resources, places of natural beauty, historical and cultural monuments, art, architecture, festivals which are the best attractions to the tourists. Among such attractions, Surkhet Valley is one of the most prospective tourist destinations in Nepal. It is a land of natural scenery, peaceful environment, rich in culture, ethnicity and bio-diversity which attract tourists. The study entitled "Prospects and Problems of Tourism Development in Surkhet Valley" was conducted with the objectives to examine real potentiality and problems of tourism development in the respective study area. For this study descriptive and analytical research design has been adapted to obtain necessary data/ information. The universe of the study has been sampled from the Birendranagar Municipality which covers the whole Surkhet Valley. The local people, hotel owner, domestic and international tourists were the sample respondents and the sample size is 85 for the study. The study is primarily based on the primary data i.e. field survey. Some secondary data have also been adopted in the study area from municipality profile/ reports, CBS, NTB, related books, journal, article and from internet source as well. The researcher own-self participated to collect primary data by using data collection techniques and tools like structured and semi structured questionnaire and key informants interviews. Findings of the study revealed that there is high potentiality of tourism development in Surkhet Valley because it has numerous sightseeing spots, touristic places such as the lake, the park, the cultural activities, agriculture farming attraction, the temple, monument, natural and manmade view tour, clock tower etc. Generally the tourists are domestic and they spend 3-6 days in the destinations. The number of foreign tourist is found very low according to the local people. Local people were found very much interested and devoted for promoting tourism in the study area but there seems lack of co-ordination among the government authorities and local people. In conclusion it can be said that Surkhet Valley deserves potentiality of becoming one of the best tourism destinations of the country. Some of the key problems found for the development of tourism in the study area are: poor road conditions, poor access of airways, effective tourism plan and policies, lack of security service, advertisement/ publicity, lack of tour and travel agents and so on. Therefore, perfect tourism master plan, package programs, tourism awareness and advertisement seem necessary to develop Surkhet Valley as a good tourism destination.